Many companies are striving to reduce employee turnover, increase employee engagement, and retain valuable employees in whom they have invested time and resources. However, what if — despite all your best efforts — these top employees still decide to leave? How can you prepare your organization for this reality?
Recent research indicates that within the next 12 months, 71% of Canadian workers are considering leaving their current jobs. Additionally, 25% of employees may not plan to leave their current job this year, but they are open to the idea of leaving once the economy and job market stabilize, which brings the potential leavers up to 78%. This is a significant portion of an organization’s workforce. As the cost of living continues to rise, employees are placing more value on compensation and benefits over work-life balance and personal well-being, which were more important to them five years ago.
Sometimes the grass is greener, and employees are searching for better options outside their current job. These trends are ramping up, so it’s more important than ever to plan for inevitable and disruptive turnover. TalentClick is here to help! Here are 4 things your organization can do now to prepare for vacancies and the hiring that will follow.
Prepare your organization for new hires:
- Prepare Ideal Job Profile Benchmarks to streamline the hiring and onboarding process
Behavioral assessments can help the hiring process by predicting a candidate’s potential and suitability for a specific role based on their personality traits, work style, and cognitive abilities. These assessments can provide insights beyond resumes and interviews, enabling better match-making between job requirements and candidate profiles.
Ideal Job Profile benchmarks can help you compare a candidate’s work style and personality to the role that you are filling, determining job fit – how well an employee is suited for the position. Refining these benchmarks for your job roles will help your organization be ready when the time comes to hire new members of the workforce. TalentClick can help you identify top performers and conduct a data analysis to make sure our benchmarks are up-to-date.
- Cross-train and develop employees’ strengths to manage turnover risk
To prepare for potential vacancies, a valuable strategy is to cross-train employees in tasks and roles that are best suited to their strengths and profile. This helps to avoid any gaps within the organization and also reduces the risk of gaps in your organization due to turnover. Cross-training has the added benefit of increasing employee development, engagement and job satisfaction. Offering opportunities for employees to learn new skills and take on new responsibilities can make them feel valued and invested in the company. Additionally, cross-training can help identify high-potential employees who may be suitable for future leadership positions. This is a great strategy to implement and can also improve overall team dynamics and collaboration when employees have a better understanding of each other.
To effectively cross-train employees, it’s important to understand their strengths and preferences. This can be achieved by matching employees to job roles that fit their behavioral strengths from their personality profile. The Attitude-Values-Personality (AVP) reports can provide a snapshot of an employee’s strengths and soft skills.
- Promote team compatibility using Team Reports and Group Analytics
Team dynamics will become an important factor as gaps open up. Understanding how each team in your organization fits together on a behavioral level can help you identify where potential conflicts may arise and how to mitigate them. Using team reports and group analytics can provide insights into the strengths and communication styles of each team member, allowing you to promote compatibility and cohesion within the team. This can help foster a positive and collaborative work environment.
Behavioral assessments and team reports can also help in the strategic placement of new hires within teams. See where new hires can fill gaps, or how they may complement the existing team. This consideration can lead to enhanced team dynamics, collaboration, and conflict resolution.
- Succession Planning: Backfill leadership positions before leaders disappear
Succession planning is crucial for the seamless transition of leadership within each organization, particularly for key positions. This strategic process ensures that your organization is prepared for all eventualities, including unexpected departures of leaders, by identifying and developing potential successors. With leadership assessments, you can understand your people – each employee’s soft skills, hard skills, interests, and competencies. When you understand your workforce, you can start backfilling leadership positions, creating contingencies, reducing risk to the organization and preventing gaps in leadership.
Potential leaders can be developed through training and development programs, such as mentoring, to acquire the necessary skills and experience. Harvard Business Review highlights the importance of transparency in this process, suggesting that potential successors should be made aware of their prospects and their expectations. By proactively backfilling leadership positions, companies can ensure continuity, maintain momentum towards achieving strategic goals, and enhance organizational resilience.
Start Preparing for Vacancies
Preparing for vacancy risks through strategies such as developing ideal profiles, cross-training employees, enhancing team dynamics, and implementing succession planning for key positions is beneficial and essential for sustaining your organizational growth and stability. It is not only good for the organization, it is essential to support your employees and help everyone be ready for what’s to come.
TalentClick is here to help. Equipped with a suite of analytical tools and behavioral assessment reports, we are here to support your organization in identifying potential and ensuring that your team is robust, resilient, and ready for the future. Start the conversation with us today, and take the first step towards securing your organization’s success tomorrow.
